Michigan's Nik Stauskas is one of the top shooters in the 2014 NBA Draft

June 22, 2014|By Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel

Nik Stauskas' shooting ability sounds almost too good to be true.

Michigan Wolverines coach John Beilein conveyed a sense of wonder when he recently recalled one of Stauskas' first college practices as a freshman in 2012. In one drill, Beilein said, Stauskas sank 78 out of 85 attempts from 3-point range.

There's no denying how well Stauskas shot the ball during his two seasons at Michigan. After he sank 44.0 percent of his 3-point tries as a freshman, he sank 44.2 percent of his 3s as a sophomore and also was named the 2013-14 Big Ten Player of the Year.

Stauskas' marksmanship will make him a coveted player in Thursday's NBA Draft.

"Without my ball-handling and my play in pick-and-rolls and things like that, I can immediately be a guy who can stretch the floor and make shots," Stauskas says. "That's something I've always been able to do."

The Charlotte Hornets, who own the ninth pick, desperately need to improve their outside shooting. So do the Philadelphia 76ers, who are set to pick 10th. Therefore, it seems likely that Stauskas will be off the board when the Magic make their second pick of the first round, at 12th overall.

But if Stauskas is available, he could intrigue the Magic. Orlando ranked 21st in the NBA this past season in 3-point percentage, making 35.3 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.

Stauskas, a 6-foot-6½ shooting guard, was the focus of opposing defenses as a sophomore after Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. went pro after the 2012-13 college season and center Mitch McGary missed most of the 2013-14 season with back problems.

Stauskas improved his scoring partly because he improved his ball-handling after his freshman year.

When he's spoken with NBA teams over the last month, most of those teams have asked him whether he'd feel comfortable playing some point guard in the pros.

"I feel like in the NBA a lot of the point guard [position] is just initiating offense through a ball screen, and in college I was living on ball screens," he says. "So I feel like that would be something that I could adjust very well to and I think I still have to improve my handle a little bit. I need to tighten it up and make it quicker."

Stauskas grew up outside of Toronto, in the same suburb where Magic power forward Andrew Nicholson was raised. Along with Stauskas, two other Canadians are certain first-round picks: Kansas swingman Andrew Wiggins and Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis.

Now when he's asked who he wants to emulate in the NBA, he mentions the Golden State Warriors' two starting guards: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who are two of the league's best long-range shooters.

Stauskas' ability to guard opposing shooting guards is a concern, and he acknowledges that his defense is the area he wants to improve most.

"And with that," he adds, "I think it's more of just a mindset than anything, just coming in and showing teams I'm really willing to defend."

That said, opposing teams are going to have to guard him, too.

His 3-point shooting will make him a valuable asset.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.